Finally, a break in the weather. Gone are the endless low pressure systems with their associated storms and fronts. Instead, today, we have high pressure in charge with a light NE breeze. The cloudbase over the airfield was initially relatively low with clear areas to the east. There was indications of wave activity with rotors, wave bars and a cap cloud to the east.
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| The K13 ready to launch |
So the conditions looked promising. First up was Rick Wiles taking advantage of a day off from his instructing duties ( Mike Jardine was in charge today ). Rick launched in K8 G-CGDK heading back down the airfield until he hooked a low wave bar directly north of the of the launchpoint at the west end. That was the last we saw of him for 34 minutes finally reappearing from a much changed sky. The wave bars had gone but the wave influence was evident all day. It gave the air a very buoyant feel with laarg(ish) areas of zero.
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| Rick's view from his 2100 feet viewpoint |
The wave in fact augmented the other lift sources which would normally be too weak to use. The north ridge was giving lift; interesting given that the northerly component of the wind was less than 5 knots. The top end of the valley between the launchpoint and Brentor church was giving very gentle thermal bubbles even though there was no sun on the ground to be seen. Scratch managed to soaring a short beat on the north side of Brent Tor. I did in fact find a wave bar to the east of the airfield but was unable to work it for very long as it was quickly engulfed in cloud so I headed west to exploit the thermal bubbles instead. All of this provided great fun.
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| Steve Raine in the K13 surveys the view |
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Looking down over Blackdown.
With a magnifying glass it is possible to see the helicopter in the field. |
The big news today was that Malcom Wilton-Jones and exeprienced pilot who joined the club recently completed his conversion to winch launching and was sent solo today. His first solo flight was completed flawlessly. His second became a 14 minute soaring flight using thermal bubbles still coming of the north ridge at 4pm. Great effort Malcom.
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| Malcom waiting for his solo winch launch |
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| Malcom and K13 on the way |
At the end of the afternoon an area of drizzle threatened from the east so we put everything away to allow the committee members to prepare for their evening meeting ahead of next week's AGM.
Today I was reminded why I fly gliders. An Excellent day
Steve
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